Rear bumper totalled

I've been here before myself, shunted at a roundabout in my previous old but very tidy car, girl who hit me wanted to give me £50 to get a bumper from a scrappy.

Not a chance, i used AskMID to find out who her insurers were & then rang them direct, priced the parts up I needed (you could have course get a garage to quote you alternatively) & then asked for a cash in lieu settlement. Got about £800 to get the car repaired, £50 would have got me a knackered bumper not much better than the one she wrecked.
 
The Running Man said:
If you do claim on his insurance your insurance goes up too when you have to declare a non fault claim for the next 5 years...been.there done that.

When you add up the extra cost of all 5 years you'll see its not worth it.
Click to expand...

Not always, depends on underwriter. All Direct Line Group policies for example are not loaded for non-fault claims.
 
All the people saying **** him have to remember that the OP will still have this bloke as a neighbour.

By all means explore the private repair route first, you still have insurance to fall back on if you smell a rat.

You do need to check the boot floor though as ive said. It would be easy just to position a bumper over any damage underneath and make it look right again, but there will still be damage underneath.

At least take the boot carpet and spare wheel out and have a look, and poke your head under the back of the car with a torch too.
 
Acme said:
All the people saying **** him have to remember that the OP will still have this bloke as a neighbour.

By all means explore the private repair route first, you still have insurance to fall back on if you smell a rat.
Click to expand...
How long can you leave it before talking to insurance company?
Would have thought you should do it as soon as possible?
 
Mcnumpty2323 said:
How long can you leave it before talking to insurance company?
Would have thought you should do it as soon as possible?
Click to expand...

Of course, I wouldnt want to leave it more than a couple of days. But im not sure what the hard limit is, or if there is one.

Thats why id at least inform the insurer of the incident, and then say you will let them know if you want them to take action.
 
Acme said:
All the people saying **** him have to remember that the OP will still have this bloke as a neighbour.

By all means explore the private repair route first, you still have insurance to fall back on if you smell a rat.

You do need to check the boot floor though as ive said. It would be easy just to position a bumper over any damage underneath and make it look right again, but there will still be damage underneath.

At least take the boot carpet and spare wheel out and have a look, and poke your head under the back of the car with a torch too.
Click to expand...

And if this neighbour starts being an even bigger **** then you record it all and take it to the police. The guy is trying to get out of ending up paying more for his insurance by doing it via cash for cheap. If he was an honest man he'd have told him he'd crashed and could they sort amicably. He's already burned those bridges by not owning up.

I wish I had the chances to get back at the 2 penis heads that have hit my car but I can't. If I had I'd throw everything at them. You crash in to a car you own up, pay your dues and suffer any financial consequences.
 
Liquid_Entity said:
And if this neighbour starts being an even bigger **** then you record it all and take it to the police. The guy is trying to get out of ending up paying more for his insurance by doing it via cash for cheap. If he was an honest man he'd have told him he'd crashed and could they sort amicably. He's already burned those bridges by not owning up.

I wish I had the chances to get back at the 2 penis heads that have hit my car but I can't. If I had I'd throw everything at them. You crash in to a car you own up, pay your dues and suffer any financial consequences.
Click to expand...

Yes but sometimes you have to leave your sense of justice at the door for a quiet life, when the other party lives next to you, assuming that you don't plan on moving!

I'd inform the insurer and say you aren't sure if you want them to pursue it yet, then try the private route with the neigbour, and if things aren't going how you would like, then call the insurer back and say you'd like them to pursue it please.

Or perhaps the attitudes of the neigbours aren't something thats important to the OP, in which case, just go through insurance.

Personally I'd just get some cash from the bloke and get a new bumper stuck over the top, then forget about it and buy a new telly. Or maybe even just get some filler and spray paint on it. Its not exactly a rare or valuable car. But its not me, nor is it my car. :p
 
Last edited:
BTW id also get cctv put up.

I have it now if any of my neighbours kids or neighbours damage my car will be much easier to prove...

For 60 quid or whatever gives me some peace of mind
 
Merlin5 said:
So firstly, if his mechanic quotes me say, £800, I'll ask my neighbour for the cash in advance. If he says no it's too much, then I'll say stuff it, I'm going through the insurance. And then I'll try and persuade them to let me use this mechanic.
Click to expand...

This would be my option too. Get a couple of quotes, present them to him and let him decide.

If he wants to pay for the work himself, then the money will be needed up front - no, after the work is done, or monthly inmstalments.

You've been fair and it's been his decision on which way to go.

TBH, if it was £800, i'd be saying for you to go through the insurance.

Also, yeah, does sound like he'd had a few beers and gone to sleep it off - he was lucky cops didn't attend.
 
I know I've been giving advice on the insurance side of things vs. repairing privately etc, but I don't think it is worth spending £800 of anyones money to fix up a car which was maybe worth £1400 prior to the damage.

I would pocket the £600 cash offered by your neigbour and spend the bare minimum getting the car looking presentable again. Whack the bumper support straight with a big hammer, buy a bumper from a breaker for £50, and put the rest in your pocket to pay for the inconvenience.

It is a more extreme example of the time someone bumped into my car at the petrol station and scratched the bumper. They paid me £100 cash to get the bumper sorted at a bodyshop.

I spent about an hour wet sanding and polishing and got it to the point where the damage was almost invisible, spent £20 on a great take-away, and put £80 in the bank.
 
Hi guys, I've phoned the insurance just to let them know of the incident but not claiming at the moment. Haven't spoken yet, was in a queue, I'm waiting for a callback.

Anyway, been to my mates mechanic who is calling me later with the price. He showed me that the horizontal metal that the bumper covers has been pushed in about an inch, it moved the spare wheel forward because the tightening screw holding the spare wasn't centred anymore, making it difficult to get the spare if I needed it. He said the spare wheel stopped any further damage.

The metal beam behind the plastic bumper is completely bent and needs replacing. Boot floor is ok.

So, he needs to push out the metal, and replace beam and bumper. The tailgate hasn't been engaging properly on the latch and so the tailgate warning light has been on the dashboard, but that will fix itself once he's done the work.

Once I get the price I'll put it to the neighbour but I don't think he'll pay more than £500 and I reckon it's going to be between £700 and £90, or maybe more. The mechanic is happy to speak to my insurers (should it go through insurance) to tell them he can do the work so that it's not written off.
 
Merlin5 said:
I really want to do that, and if things don't pan out with private quotes, I may still. At the moment though, the reality is that he's made me kind of feel that I'd be a right **** for going through the insurance.
Click to expand...

Guy doesn't know how insurance works clearly. If the claim is solely for damage to your car (ie he sorts his own damage privately) then there is no excess to pay.

However, if he is a cab driver, if he is operating "Private Hire" insurance then his already high premiums are going to take a hit, but thats life.
 
The boot floor is probably bent but it wont be a problem. You will never get it perfect again though. Its one of the things people look at for crash damage.
 
If you go through insurance, I suspect they'll deem it a write off with the damage you've recently described.
 
and then prepare for your own insurance to increase.

car looks fine now get some cash out of him and move on.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom